TRENDING:

Landlords are losing out by evicting tenants when they want to sell up

Over half a billion of rental income is lost annually because private landlords are evicting good tenants mistakenly believing that they need to sell their properties tenant free, it is suggested.

The average landlord loses over three months’ rent as a result of evicting tenants to sell and the loss to a single private landlord, typically with just one home to sell, ranges from £2,757 to £5,514, according to the study from buy to let marketplace Vesta.

It concludes that the practice of evicting good renters is not only losing landlords critical income but it is also causing unnecessary distress and costs to thousands of long term tenants who have to find alternative accommodation as quickly as possible.

‘The practice of landlords evicting perfectly good tenants when they want to sell their property is outdated in this day and age and highlights that the sector is long overdue for reinvention and transformation,’ said Russell Gould, Vesta’s chief executive.

‘You really have to question a process that loses rental income for the seller whilst putting the tenant through huge amounts of stress and cost when it is totally unnecessary,’ he added.

It suggests that the latest industry figures show that up to 380,000 private landlords could sell their properties in the market over the coming year, potentially leading to thousands of displaced tenants across the UK.

This is at a time when demand for rental properties continues to grow. The private rented sector (PRS) is expected to be worth £1.7 million by 2025 featuring 7.2 million homes or 25% of all homes in the UK. In 2016, the size of the sector was £1.4 trillion with 5.7 million homes, some 20% of all homes in the UK.

‘Until we adopt a different approach, the problem for both landlords and tenants will only get worse. Forecasts suggest that 380,000 private landlords are planning to sell their properties in the next 12 months resulting in thousands of tenants facing unnecessary evictions,’ Gould explained.

‘We want the buy to let sector to realise that there are viable alternatives to the traditional model that are both socially responsible and financially beneficial to investors, landlords and their tenants,’ he added.